talk about ingenious history!
the very Francesco Petrarca himself has given us the very first record of pathetic love sickness!
i have a lovely professor who today in class, by way of the syllabus introduced us to the renaissance prince himself.
his sonnets are lovely manifestations of a crush turned fatal!
i certainly won't bore you with alllll of them but sonnet number 3 ... it's the beginning of this journey!
It was on that day when the sun’s ray
was darkened in pity for its Maker,
that I was captured, and did not defend myself,
because your lovely eyes had bound me, Lady.
It did not seem to me to be a time to guard myself
against Love’s blows: so I went on
confident, unsuspecting; from that, my troubles
started, amongst the public sorrows.
Love discovered me all weaponless,
and opened the way to the heart through the eyes,
which are made the passageways and doors of tears
so that it seems to me it does him little honour
to wound me with his arrow, in that state,
he not showing his bow at all to you who are armed.
was darkened in pity for its Maker,
that I was captured, and did not defend myself,
because your lovely eyes had bound me, Lady.
It did not seem to me to be a time to guard myself
against Love’s blows: so I went on
confident, unsuspecting; from that, my troubles
started, amongst the public sorrows.
Love discovered me all weaponless,
and opened the way to the heart through the eyes,
which are made the passageways and doors of tears
so that it seems to me it does him little honour
to wound me with his arrow, in that state,
he not showing his bow at all to you who are armed.
pff i love it.
on a sidenote: i love the renaissance becuase everytime we talk about it in school i feel like i'm coming in contact with some rather influential hippies!
xo
